Today was my 20th and second to last day in the Land Down Under. I’m sad that I’m heading home tomorrow. I woke up at 8:30 and I packed up everything. I was hoping to go to the Australia Zoo, so I went to the train station at 9:30 and I found out the train didn’t come until 11:00 and it takes two hours to get there and the zoo closes at 4:00, so I gave up on it. That’s something I’ll have to do on my next trip here, and you can bet I’ll be back! I went to the travel place to check my mail for free whilst trying to decide on what to do. At 10:30 I figured I’d go down to Surfer’s Paradise. It made sense because I wanted to meet back up with Jessica and Kyle tonight. So, I bought a ticket at the train station and jumped aboard. Today there was another issue with the trains and we all had to get off and get on a bus and then get on another train. I don’t know why it happened this time. Anyways it took almost 1½ hours to get to Nerang. Then I had to get on another bus to get to Surfer’s Paradise. I’ve spent a lot of time in Australia just getting around because it’s such a huge country. I ended up getting to Surfer’s Paradise at 1:15. By then I was starving. I got a meatball sub at Subway for lunch. I told the girl who works there that I used to work at Subway a few years ago. I sat down to eat and left after a short while. Afterward I asked about surfing lessons, but they’re $40. I put my stuff in a locker and put on my thongs (flip-flops). I then walked down to the beach, which had heaps of people. The waves are even bigger here than in Noosa. I kept my shirt on today because I got burned yesterday. I kept swimming until I saw a jellyfish. Then I got nervous! The lifeguards were putting out marine stinger signs. I still went swimming because there were many other people in the water and I just had to look out for jellyfish. In the water I played catch with a football with these guys and I just enjoyed myself like it was my last night on Earth. I swam away in the waves and this young man let me use his boogie board. I also saw another girl with a very unique swimsuit, kind of like the other one I saw on Terri when I was on the Rum Runner. I was in the ocean for like 2 hours. Afterward I showered to get the salt off of me, but I still had heaps of sand in my pockets. I then went to my locker and got out my camera. I wanted some picture of the Gold Coast beachfront. The Gold Coast has the highest residential building in Australia. It looks very futuristic! On the beach, I talked to this guy who is a Philadelphia Eagles fan, and I told him that I was born near Philly. I took a picture with the Surfer’s Paradise sign and then took picture of the beach and all that good stuff. Next up I got food at McDonald’s and I spilled my soda on the way out. Oh well, they gave me a new one. I walked past all the shops and got a Gold Coast postcard, then shot a photo of some rainbow lorikeets on the Surfer’s
Paradise Blvd. street sign. I really wanted to go meet up with Jessica and Kyle again, so that was next on my agenda. I jumped on the first bus I saw. It would take me about a mile from her house. On the way I talked to some other young travelers. I got dropped off and then walked like two kilometers or so before reaching Jessica’s house, and they were home! She wasn’t home yet, but they dogs sure missed me. I told Kyle about my adventures in the Outback and how I saw the sunset at Uluru, and how we hit that poor kangaroo. Kyle said I could stay the night. Jessica came home a few minutes later. I told her about how I traveled in the Outback and later met up with Pearl and also told her that next time I’m here we ought to travel together. Perhaps we could go to New Zealand. Tomorrow I fly home at 11:40 PM, and it’s going to be so hard leaving the land that I love very much. Kyle talked about going to get pizza, so he let me go with him. We took a ride down to Eagle Boys Pizza, and I asked him about when he was in America, was it tough to transition to driving on the right. He told me no. Kyle treated me to a cheese pizza. That was very nice of him. After getting the pizzas, I asked him if we could go in circles around a roundabout, but the pizzas would have gone flying everywhere. When we got back home we all sat and ate while watching a game of cricket; a popular sport here in Australia. I fed my pizza crust to the dogs after I finished. Kyle and Jessica decided on going to sleep early. After saying good night to them I tried to call Karla, but she wasn’t there. I called Dad, but no one answered. I just sat at the computer checking basketball scores and researching flights for my next trip. I’m not sure what’s next. Lately I’ve thought of Japan or Iceland. I just love to travel!!!! At 12:30 I called it a night. It was fun spending my final full day here in the Gold Coast, where Nanees used to live. I still have another day tomorrow. I’ll see you soon.
